PERIFÉRICOS

23.10.09

De Cuba (Mes H)

"Any dialogue between artists and the state was inevitably cut off by the vertiginous rush of politically provocative events that took place in the art world between 1989 and 1990. In early 1989 a series of exhibition of contemporary art held at Castillo de la Real Fuerza, approved by the Visual Arts Council of the Ministry of Culture, was closed after five days. Among the artworks deemed offensive were René Francisco Rodríguez and Eduardo Ponjuán's portraits of Castro. Depictions of Castro were legal but not encouraged, and the images included in the show were at best ambigous in meaning. Marcia Leiseca, the Vice Minister of Culture who had overseen the "Cuban Renaissance" of the 1980s was removed from her job".